


Drive

by elfin



Category: Fast and the Furious Series
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-29
Updated: 2017-04-29
Packaged: 2018-10-25 07:09:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,033
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10759284
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/elfin/pseuds/elfin
Summary: Cypher kept calling them ‘your team’ and while I owe Deckard huge for saving my son, I can’t forgive him for murdering Gisele and Han. It’s a conflict I can’t resolve. This isn’t my team. Han’s killer can’t be family, and quite honestly, I don’t recognise myself anymore.





	Drive

**Author's Note:**

> Set after F&F8. This ain't family.

‘Han called.’

‘Yeah? Where is he?’

‘Tokyo. Said he’d picked up a buster. Said… and I quote, ‘it seemed to work out okay for you.’’

I remember Brian laughing at that.

~

I honestly had no idea how lost I’d be without him. I thought I if had my team, I had Letty, I’d be okay. Truth was, without him, I wasn’t me. When Cypher found me I was already on a knife edge, happy with Letty but cut off from Mia, from Brian. From the other half of me. For a long, long time, I’d had everything, and I’d taken it for granted. Taken him for granted. Not that he left, not exactly. Letty and I went to Cuba for our honeymoon while Brian and Mia went east, to Boston, to make a home for my niece. 

I don’t think we intended it to be an enforced separation but Mia made Letty promise, and that promise kept Brian away at a time when maybe I needed him most. Because the rest of them turned on me in a second and I know Brian wouldn’t have. 

Letty told me Roman had wanted to call him but she wouldn’t allow it. Her reasons for keeping him away are more complicated than Roman could have known. Letty loves Brian. She just doesn’t like him. She knows how I feel about him, how I’ve always felt about him, why I never did anything about it and how, sometimes, I regret it. Like when everyone else believed the worst of me and I know he wouldn’t have. He’d have thought it through, figured it out, been there for me, not against me. 

It’s caused more than a few arguments over the last couple of weeks.

Back in Rio, Vince made it clear he blamed everything - being a wanted man, not being able to return to the States - on my refusal to see Brian for what he really was, conveniently forgetting it was us who were the criminals back in LA. I wouldn't admit it, but he was right. If I'd let him kill Brian back then in Hector's garage, we would still be free. Or maybe not, maybe we'd be in jail, or dead. There's no doubt in my mind that Brian saved us all.

I do a quick scan of what passes for my family now, the odd group of misfits hanging out on the rooftop of what is the most expensive place I’ve ever lived. Hobbs and Deckard are the oddest of them all. I'm not sure what's going on with them. Cypher kept calling them ‘your team’ and while I owe Deckard huge for saving my son, I can’t forgive him for murdering Gisele and Han. It’s a conflict I can’t resolve. This isn’t my team. Han’s killer can’t be family, and quite honestly, I don’t recognise myself anymore.

Me, I want to head back to Cuba. But I want Brian in tow, the same way I’ve wanted him since the moment I laid eyes on him. A million years ago, back in LA; tuna on white and a fist fight with Vince that got him my full and undivided attention. 

I make the decision that afternoon, on the roof terrace, with a Corona in one hand and a cell phone in the other. Behind me, Tej and Roman are bickering over the grill like an old married couple. It amused me once upon a time - when Brian was around to run interference - but it’s wearing thin on the nerves now. Letty’s swapping heist stories with Ramsey, while Deckard’s swapping undercover ops stories with the guy they call ‘Somebody’; a joke I don’t get. I don’t think I’ve spoken more than ten words to the man. I can't do this anymore.

I turn to tell Letty that I need to talk to her, a talk that’s going to turn into yet another argument, and that’s when I see him standing at the top of the steps, smile like a sunny day, only recognising half the faces around my table and yet one hundred and ten percent certain of his welcome at it. Brian. 

I’m across the deck in three strides, and maybe I hesitate when I reach him but he doesn’t. He has his arms around me in a second, and nothing on God’s earth could have stopped me from returning that not so masculine, so not platonic, full frontal hug that goes on forever and is over way too soon. To hold him again is heaven. I’ve missed him more than I can ever put into words and it hasn’t been more than a couple of months.

I forget there’s anyone else around, losing myself like a lovesick teenager in those big blue eyes, his easy smile. My fingers find their way into his lose gold curls just like it was when we first made out in my garage, on the hood of the neon orange Supra. I remember how he felt under me that time, and every other time we fucked after that. Under me, over me, on top of me, inside me. How did I ever imagine we were over, that what I felt for him was a passing thing? I love him, I realise in that one poignant and terrifying moment. I love him, am in love with him, open my mouth, I think, to actually say those momentous words.

And what does he interrupt them with?

‘Hey, Dom, got a beer?’

 

He hugs the people he knows. Except Deckard. When he sees him he looks at me like he knows there's an explanation and he'll let me give it before deciding if he still needs to throw the guy's ass off the roof. I introduce those he doesn’t know, but when it comes to Somebody, I realise I have no idea what the guy’s actual name is, and Brian looks at me like I’m losing it. All I can do is shrug. 

When he hugs Letty, she looks at me over his shoulder and that look tells me she knows everything that’s been going through my mind. I’ve always been an open book to her. It’s why she’s so wary around him. They’ve got history and it’s never been simple because I’ve always been between them. They might have been friends, real friends, if it wasn’t for me. They’re the same, I know, because I love them both and I have a type, that’s for sure: intelligent, strong, sassy as hell. She vanishes after that, but I know she'll be back for the fight. 

I get him a beer, and it turns out he wants me to himself as much as I don’t want to share him with the rest of them who’ve taken up semi-permanent residence on the roof. I follow him to the railing at the back where it’s almost private, even with all those curious eyes on us, and wait for him to tell me why he’s here. 

Instead he says, ‘Nice view.’

I don’t take my eyes off him. ’It has vastly improved.’ That gets his attention. He looks at me, squinting in the sun. His Ray Bans are on his head, nesting in his permanently sun-bleached hair. Clear blue eyes like the California sky gaze at me with amusement. ‘Why are you here?’ I ask quietly, gently, because I don’t want to sound like he isn’t always welcome, more welcome than most of the people behind us. I just want to know.

‘I hear you’ve been having adventures without me.’

Adventures. I can’t help but nod. ‘Oh, yeah, it’s been real fun.’

‘Mia wants to meet mini you.’ I called my sister once the dust settled. Wanted her to know she had a nephew. I don’t know why he’s here and she’s not. ‘She’s fine. We’re fine.’

Something in his voice…. He’s not fine.

‘What’s up, Bri?’

For a second I think I see moisture in his eyes and that scares the crap out of me. Brian’s fearless. Nothing frightens him, nothing phases him. Then he’s all smiles and I know he’s lying to me when he says, ‘Nothing’s up. I was just in the neighbourhood.’

‘Bullshit.’

‘How about you tell me why the guy who murdered Han and Giselle is sitting at your table?’

‘He saved my son.’

‘And that makes us even?’ I don’t answer that, smile at his choice of words. It’s always ‘us’ with Brian. He would never have believed the crap I’ve just pulled with Cypher. ‘What about the guy whose name you don’t know?’ There’s amusement in his voice.

‘He works with Nobody.’

There’s a smile on Brian’s lips when he tips the bottle to them and empties half of it in two swallows. I get distracted by the movement of his throat and miss whatever he says next.

‘Huh?’

‘I said, don’t you miss the simplicity of the old days?’

That made me laugh. ‘Nothing simple about the old days. You know that as well as I do.’

‘At least the lines were less blurry.’

‘Were they?’ The way he looks at me, it makes most of my blood run south. Yeah, we’re both on the same page here. Just need to find a way of doing something about it that isn’t going to rip my family - my real family - in half. ‘So… do you want to tell me what happened with Cypher? And why you didn’t call.’

‘I couldn’t call.’

‘Why? Cuban sun melt your cell?’

‘Because I knew you wouldn’t buy it. I could barely believe they did, me going sideways on them. But maybe, just maybe, they’d think you were the cause of it and I could buy myself some time.’

‘You think I might have seen straight through your evil!Dom mask to the bullshit underneath?’ I nod slowly, and he joins in, agreeing. ‘Why didn’t they call me?’

‘Because we agreed. You and Mia are out of it, whatever happens.’

‘No, Dom. Not ‘whatever happens’. That’s absolutely not what we agreed.’

‘You have other priorities.’

‘No priority higher than keeping your ass safe and out of jail. You know that.’

I can’t help the roll of my eyes. He’s turned a throw-away remark into the mantra he’s chosen to live by and it amuses me and humbles me in equal parts. ‘It’s done. The good guys won.’

‘The good guys stole a military grade EMP, grid-locked New York, destroyed millions of dollars worth of cars, stole a bunch of nuclear codes, broke into a secret Russian base and blew up a nuclear sub.’

‘All that was down to the bad guys.’

‘You mean, you.’

‘I mean Cypher.’

‘Who lives to rain down destruction on another day. Jesus Christ, Dom, you’re not James Bond!’

I can’t help it. ‘James Bond has nothing on me.’

Brian shakes his head, throws his free hand up and shrugs. ‘Fine. If you’re going to play superhero, I’m gonna have to stick around to play sidekick.’

‘Oh, no. We agreed. You’re out of the life. Greater priorities.’

‘We didn’t agree. You told me to get your sister away from all this and that’s what I did, Dom. Mia’s safe.’ He hesitated. Took a step towards me. ‘But I can’t live like that. If you’re a part of something, I need to be too.’

The tone of his voice, the truth in his eyes, it cost him to admit that when he shouldn’t have had to - I should have known it and maybe I did. Maybe I wanted to hear him say it and I’ve been waiting for it. Don’t know how I expected him to stay away. The guy would follow me in to Hell without an escape plan.

And yeah, dammit, he knows me better than anyone now.

‘You son of a bitch, you’ve been waiting for me to come back….’ There’s no anger behind his words, just a measure of disbelief and something else, something that lights up his eyes as he takes another step forward. We’re being watched, I’m sure of that - don’t need to look around to know we’ve got a captive audience. While I’d have preferred to have this conversation in private, there’s very little privacy in my life. Another step, and I hold my ground even through he’s no more than a foot away. ‘Why?’

‘You know why.’ Maybe if I don’t glance at his mouth at that precise moment…. But I do, and he smiles.

‘About damn time, Toretto.’

Something, in that moment, slides home. I need to do something, to acknowledge it, assure Brian I’m done ignoring it. I reach between us and put my hand on the back of his, the one holding the Corona, stroke his wrist. 

‘You didn’t have to wait for me to make the first move.’

His eyes widen and he looks me up and down slowly. ‘You make the wrong move, I knee you in the balls and drive away like a bitch. I make a wrong move, you rip my balls off and grill them.’

He’s bullshitting. He knows as well as I do that I’d never hurt him. Couldn’t even threaten to hurt him, that fucking awful afternoon with Jessie and Tran and the world turning upside down. Back then I put it square at his feet and still I couldn’t even pretend. 

He brushes the inside of my wrist with his thumb. ‘And then there’s what Letty and Mia will do to the both of us….’

~

Night never falls in New York. It gets dark, but that’s the city’s only concession to the hours between midnight and four which, at least in LA, were traditionally used for sleeping. If it didn’t get dark I'd never know what time of day it was. 

‘I hate this city.’ Brian points the neck of his beer bottle somewhere in the direction of Central Park. ‘I miss LA.’

I don’t. I miss him. I’d be happy anywhere in the world, I realise, as long as he’s there with me. I don’t have to say it. I think he’s getting that. He’s got one hand wrapped around a Corona and the other around the iron railing. My hands, my arms are full of him. 

Hobbs has gone home. Deckard and the other guy, I have no idea where they go when they're not here. Tej is still nursing a beer, ass in a deckchair, eyes all over Ramsey who's up on the wall opposite. I don't think Brian and I are even registering on his radar. 

Letty hasn’t come back, but Roman got a text, gave Brian a hard slap on the bicep for good measure and said he had to go out. I guess that was Letty calling. Says something that she calls Roman and not Ramsey. Roman, Tej, they came for Brian, up from Miami, years ago when we needed a bigger team to pull off that crazy stunt in Rio. Letty got tight with them the way she would’ve with Brian if it hadn’t been for me. 

Says something too that Roman only shook his head at us, has been expecting this to happen sooner or later. Like Mia, like Letty, he saw through all the macho posturing a long time ago. Brian reconnected with him after it all went down in LA, I don't know what Brian told him about me when they were in Miami, but when Rome and I first met he kept looking at me with an odd mix of jealousy and awe.

‘Cuba’s nice.’ Yeah, Cuba worked its magic on me.

‘We could live there.’

‘What about Mia?’

‘She’s happy, Dom. She’s fine. She knows. Always has done. And I know you said you’d break my neck….’ Can’t really hold him to that, given everything I’ve said to him over the last couple of hours. ‘I honestly only came here to ask about New York.’

I’ve introduced him to mini-me. Brian’s great with kids. I have this insane idea in my head about uprooting the entire Toretto clan and all living under the same roof in Havana. It’s worse than insane, it’s batshit crazy. Mia’s probably after my balls given what Brian’s said about their conversation before he left Boston. I know it can’t go back to the way it was but sometimes this place feels like some weird, out of focus version of Echo Park and I know if I stay I'll soon start resenting it.

'You and I need to lead the way,' he says quietly, like he's reading my mind. 'The others, they'll come round, they'll follow.'

I know he's right. It would give us some time alone too, space to breathe before the rest of them are pulled back into our orbit. That's the thing about family; however hard you try to break it, it'll always fix itself. 

'I love you, Brian.' The words slip out, soft and uncensored. 

He doesn't reply, leans back against me and breathes out, letting me take his weight just for the moment. He doesn't have to uses the words because he's made it abundantly clear with his actions how he feels about me. All he says is, 'always.' And yeah, he's right. 

I get another crazy idea pop into my head and this one I decide to run with. Letting go for a second, I reach up and back, unclipping the fastening on the thick silver chain around my neck and putting it around his. Brian glances down and turns his head.

'Dom....'

It's not the first time I've kissed him to stop him from speaking, it's the best - possibly the only - way to shut him up. His hand lands on my shoulder and his head tips back fraction.

‘You can’t-‘

I cut him off. ‘It’s my choice to make.’ It was easy to stay with the woman in my life when we were sharing our days with the man in it. Only when he wasn’t in the yard, or in the garage, or just popped out for engine parts; only then did I start to think I’d hung on to the wrong person.

I love Letty. I just love Brian more.

Fucking weird, the way things turn out.


End file.
